CATHOLICS VOTE PRO-MARRIAGE

CATHOLICS VOTE PRO-MARRIAGE

On November 5, we noted the role that Catholics played in securing marriage and family rights in the election.

Were it not for Catholics, the institutions of marriage and the family would have taken a hit in places like Arizona, Florida and California. Indeed, in Florida and California, their vote proved to be decisive.

Arizonians rejected gay marriage by a vote of 56% to 44%, though the margin among Catholics was less—51% to 49%. In Florida, the Catholic vote proved to be controlling: overall, the ban on gay marriage won by 62% to 38%, but among Catholics it was 66% to 34%. Californians narrowly defeated gay marriage by a margin of 52% to 48%, but Catholics rejected it by an impressive 60% to 40% differential. A vote in California to support parental consent lost by 52% to 48%, but it won among Catholics by a hefty 58% to 42%.

On both issues, Catholics and Protestants who are regular churchgoers clearly supported a ban on homosexual marriage and affirmed their support for parental consent. Unmarrieds and those who don’t go to church overwhelmingly voted for the right of two men to marry; they also voted to deny mothers and fathers of their right to be notified in advance if their child is considering an abortion.

Those who supported traditional values, then, tended to be religious and married while those who sport a preference for moral relativism tend to be secular and single. The implications were clear: tax laws, and other public policy initiatives, which are both family-friendly and church-friendly, are critically important.